MADISON
COORDINATOR’S NOTE: The following two obituaries are important to Tallulah
history. The first concerns the engineer who was in charge of construction of
the 1850’s railroad through Tallulah. He is credited with naming the town after
his childhood sweetheart from Georgia whom he later married during the Civil
War. The second obituary is of this sweetheart and later wife, Tallulah Johnson
Horne – the daughter of a former Governor of Georgia.

The story is that
Horne was ready to lay out the railroad through the town of Richmond when he
became infatuated with a wealthy widow, presumably Henrietta Amis, who
persuaded him to route the railroad through her property north of Richmond and,
after he did so, immediately lost interest in him. Whereupon he named a
watering station “Tallulah” in honor of his childhood sweetheart in Georgia.
Whether this is true or not is suspect. In 1857, when Tallulah Station was
named, Henrietta Amis was 36 years old (from 1860 census) and Horne was only
20. Though not impossible, it seems improbable that a twenty-year-old male
would become “infatuated” with a widow sixteen years his senior. Whatever the
circumstances, the town apparently was named for Tallulah Johnson who later
married Horne. RPS dicksevier@gmail.com

These
obituaries were found in the Robert L. Moncrief Collection and were contributed
by Stephen Moncriefof
Oxford, Mississippi.

And in Presence
of a Large Congregation in St. Mark's Church Funeral Services
Tuesday.

Capt. Pearce Horne, of this city, died last Thursday night at
Littleton, New Hampshire, the immediate cause of death being a cold caught
while driving with a friend.

The news reached here Friday morning and came as a shock to this entire
community, in which Capt. Horns was greatly beloved, and where he was recognized as
one of the leading citizens in this section of the state. An added tinge of
sadness to this death was the fact that just a short time prior to the arrival
of the fateful message his family had received a letter from him, written in a most cheerful
spirit, containing assurances of his physical well-being and declaring that he
was enjoying his stay among the mountains of New Hampshire.

For a number of
years, Capt. Horne had been a sufferer from asthma, and it was his custom at this season
to seek a higher altitude, where the dry atmosphere afforded him relief.

The remains
reached here Monday night, and Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock the funeral services were
held in St. Marks Episcopal Church, the large convention in attendance attesting to the
high esteem in which the deceased was held in his own home. Rev. C. B. Hudgins, of Rome, impressively
read the beautiful service for the dead, and appropriate music, softly
rendered, gave further solemnity to the scene.

Gen. B. M. Thomas and Messrs. W. C. Martin, R. J. McCaw,
J. W. Black, J. V. Lafitte, and S. B. Felker officiated as pall bearers, Numerous floral
offerings, handsome in design, covered the casket and altar of the church -
further tokens of the love and respect he and his family compelled.

Words of sympathy
are vain. Could they avail how freely were they offered here. Mere language
cannot assuage the grief which time alone can mitigate; yet in Dalton many
hearts are beating in unison of sorrow with those whose bereavement bows them down, and
who feel with them much of the pain they suffer.

The following sketch of the life of Capt. Horne was written
by an old Confederate soldier, one of his companions in arms:

“Captain Horne
was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, about 1837;educated in the Milledgeville Male Academy and Oglethorpe
University at Midway, Ga.; was in charge of the construction of the Vicksburg, Shreveport
& Texas railroad (now the Vicksburg & Shreveport railroad, part of the
Q & C. system) of which his father, J. H. Horme, of Milledgeville, became the superintendent, and from it, in 1861, was appointed
the second lieutenant in the First Georgia Regulars, at that time in Toomb's
brigade, afterwards G. T. Anderson's (Tige) brigade of Jones' division,
Longstreet's corps, army of Northern Virginia. He served in that regiment until
near the close of the war (Civil), when he was transferred to some other
department of duty.

In
the seven days' battle around Richmond, at about sunset, July 1, 1861, on the
last day of those battles, as the regiment was moving into position to make the
awful charge upon the batteries of the Federal army, located on Madison Hill,
Lieutenant Horne was wounded slightly by a round shot. It is seldom that
soldiers ever see a shot which strikes
on or near them. But on this occasion the regiment was moving by a flank over
the crest of the hill, where it was obscured from the view of the Federal
batteries by timber, but there was an open space between the timber and its
position, so that shots which passed over the timber or through it coming
toward us could be seen. This particular shot was a round shot, was seen as it came towards us, struck
the ground, ricocheted and after that struck and killed one man, wounded
another, struck Lieut. William A. Williams, breaking his arm, breaking his
sword and crippling him for life; then struck Lieut. Horne on the hand knocking
him down, so that the litter bearers took him on a stretcher, carrying him to
the field hospital at the foot of the hill. Before the regiment made its final
charge on the batteries, we were astonished to see Lieutenant Horne back with
his company - Company H- (Capt. Miller Greve's Company) leading it. He often
said afterwards that he saw the shot coming; that it would have struck him
about the center of the body, but that he jumped up and that it struck his hand
and knocked him down.

He was again wounded in the second
battle of Manassas, August 30, 1862. The regiment in that battle took into it
one hundred and seventy muskets, losing seventeen officers and one hundred and ten muskets. Lieutenant Horne was shot in
that battle bya minnie ball,
which entered his neck on one side and came out at the other, and had the
appearance of having gone through the bone of the neck. The bullet caused the
neck when it healed, to be so painful, and required him to hold his head up, as
the men said, that this among other things led to his transfer from the regiment.”

His father was a
merchant and was one of the first to become a contractor for the building of
railroads. In partnership with Walter Mitchell, Nathan Hawkins, Stith P.
Myrick, and, it may be, others, they were engaged in building the Vicksburg,
Shreveport and Texas Railroad when the Civil War began.

His mother was a Miss Kenan, as
sister of the Hon. Augustus H. Kenan, one
of the leading lawyers of Georgia, who represented in congress, and
in the Confederate congress, the Milledgeville district, andalso a sister of the Hon. Mike
Kenan, who represented Glynn county in the Georgia legislature, and wasone of the largest and most
successful planters in southeastern Georgia.

He married, during the
Civil War, Miss Tallulah Johnson, daughter of Ex-Governor Herschel V. Johnson of Georgia. Gov. Johnson was
candidate for vice-president in 1860, was opposed to secession and did not hesitate to say that secession
was suicide, but when Georgia seceded, in perhaps the greatest speech ever made
in Georgia, as a member of the Georgia constitutional conventionof 1861, whilst announcing that, in his
judgment, secession was a mistake, he recognized that his allegiance was first
due to Georgia, and pledged himself to
abide by her andher people to
maintain her rights under it. The mother of Mrs. Horne was a descendant of Col.
William Polk, who served as a lieutenant-colonel
in the Revolutionary War under Washington, was wounded in the battle ofBrandywine and under Gen. Green was wounded
in the battle of Eutaw Springs. From Col. Polk was descended Mrs. Susan S. Rayner,
of Mineral Wells, Texas,one of the
few surviving real daughters of the revolution, and from him also descended
President James K. Polk, the Bishop Gen. Leonidas Polk, who was killed at Pine
Mountain in command of anarmy
corps in the Confederate army, and also a host of Polks who reside in Middle and
West Tennessee.

Lieutenant Horne, when
transferred, became a Captain. He died on September 4, 1903 in the
White Mountains of New Hampshire, where he had gone for the summer on accountof hay fever.

After the Civil War, he
became the leadingfarmer of
North Georgia, and was prominent in all the affairs of the state.

He
leaves a widow and a large family of children. His widow resides at Dalton, Ga. where most of his children reside.

Rapidly
the last of us are “Crossing over the
river to rest under the shade of the trees:"

(Taken from Dalton, Georgia paper - June 17, 1925)

PIONEER GEORGIA
WOMAN DIES

Mrs. Tallulah Johnson Horne daughter of
former Governor of Georgia, Herschel V.
Johnson, and a relative of President James K. Polk, and herselfone of the state's most distinguished women, died
at her home in Dalton, Wednesday, June 17th, at the age of 85.

The death of Mrs. Horne removes from this community one
of its most prominentcitizens of distinguished ancestry. She was the
widow of Captain Pearce Horne, a gallantofficer of the Confederate army, to whom she was married in 1862,
coming here soon after their marriage.

Mrs. Horne was the
daughter of the Honorable Herschel V. Johnson, former governorof
Georgia, United States Senator, memberof
the Congress of the confederacy, CircuitCourt Judge, and the recipient of many other political honors and a
candidate forvice-presidentof the United States on the tickets with Stephen
A. Douglas. She was the niece of
James K. Polk, 11th President of the United States. She possessed a strikingpersonality and inherited a strong
intellectuality from her distinguished ancestors.

She is survived
by 5 daughters,4 sons,
25 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

The family has been the recipient of many messages of
condolence from allover thesouth
and other sections of the country, and numerous beautiful floral offerings from
sympathetic friends attested the high esteem in which she has held.